A year and a half ago I bought a bunch of the lyra ferby pencil crayons (21 of them!), a pack of the beeswax stick crayons, and 5 block crayons to try out. I replaced all of our old felts/crayons with these.

Ds (almost 6) loves the pencil crayons. He spends hours drawing pictures with them and I am constantly buying him new sketch pads to color in. He occasionally uses the crayons but not much.

A friend of mine (who knows/has read much more about waldorf than me) told me that children are supposed to use the block crayons first and that the pencil crayons should not be used until much later. (When would they switch from block to the sticks, btw?) Can anyone explain more about this? Should I be encouraging ds to use the crayons instead and how would I do that? He LOVES the pencil crayon so much I need to order more of some colors because they have been sharpened so many times and are very short now.

I don't think it matters really. From what I've heard from friends most kids are more interested in the stick crayons. And, I know in 1st Grade they usually encourage the child to draw with block crayons and write with stick crayons. I'm not sure if any of that is insisted upon though.

I agree, I would not worry about it esp since he is so enamored with the pencils. I'd rather see the hours of drawing than make sure he was using the "correct" instruments!

Our daughters use the block crayons (ages 4 & 2) largely b/c if you drop a stick beeswax crayon on the wooden floor, it breaks! This happened three times & I put them away! The girls also pretend the block crayons are other things, too, which is funny. At our Morning Garden, they are offered both block and stick, so I doubt it matters. Also, some schools do not offer black in kindy and some do *shrug* I currently do not offer black.

Are you talking about the lyra febry pencils? i think your son enjoys them because they are just kind of wonderful for drawing. They are easy to hold and super easy to manipulate and have a rich color. And it is easier to get a little detail in as he matures in style and skill.

We prefer them as well to our beeswax crayons which always feel a little clumy in comparison. My older DS really likes to draw vs. "color."

I can't see any reason to limit the use of any well loved art supply but I am not a purist.